Facing a four-point hole through three quarters, Waverly reeled off 28 points over the final quarter to rally for a 73-55 victory over visiting Elmira Notre Dame in Interscholastic Athletic Conference boys basketball Tuesday night.

Gavin Judson scored 29 points to pace the Wolverines, who improved to 1-2 after their IAC South Large School opener. Dylan Ward added 14 points for Waverly. Matt VanHouten and Scott Woodring contributed 12 points each.

Fourth-quarter domination

Waverly was down, 49-45, through three quarters, but the Wolverines finished with a 28-6 scoring edge in the final eight minutes. Ward hit his second 3-pointer for a 56-51 Wolverines lead with just under five minutes left and Waverly kept adding to its advantage.

Waverly had lost two games in each of the previous two seasons, capturing overall IAC Large School titles each year. Facing a potential 0-3 record and a four-point deficit, the Wolverines looked more like the team Waverly fans have come to expect in recent years.

"Better ball movement, better team chemistry, playing with more of a sense of urgency," Waverly coach Lou Judson said of the turnaround in the fourth quarter.

Gavin Judson finds his rhythm

Gavin Judson's big night was also much needed. The coach's son, Waverly's quarterback in football, had struggled in losses to Whitney Point and Cortland. He made some tough shots Tuesday and finished 9-for-11 from the foul line, part of a 17-for-22 overall team effort at the line.

"Two games we’ve lost he hasn’t played well," Lou Judson said. "He still had his football legs, like a lot of kids. So he was missing a lot of shots he’s accustomed to making. He came up and stepped up big for us tonight."

Rough finish for Crusaders

Notre Dame was let down by a combination of turnovers, bad defense and poor shot selection late in the game. Crusaders coach Bill Hopkins credited Waverly for playing well late and said fatigue might have been a factor in his team's struggles.

"We had extensive minutes for certain players, Gary and Kyreese in particular," Hopkins said. "The other thing was turnovers at key moments and just horrific transition defense. That’s something we stress every day, but it wasn’t there tonight. We did a lot of staring at shots; we were not getting back. The live-ball turnovers are killers."

New faces at both places

Waverly returns just one starter from last season and Lou Judson said this team is a work in progress.

While Notre Dame has three players back who were key contributors to a 17-7 team that lost in the Section 4 Class C final, the level of varsity experience from the rest of the roster is minimal. The Crusaders are without Declan Sharma, a potential starter who will miss the season with a patella tendon injury suffered last summer. Senior guard Justin Bauco broke his collarbone in the preseason.

"We’re going with very, very young kids, which makes us a little thinner against good teams like Waverly with size," Hopkins said. "It was a total breakdown in the fourth period and I think a lot of it was because of our youth and because of our fatigue."

Up next

Waverly hosts Candor on Friday. The Crusaders play their home opener the same night against Newfield, last season's New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D runner-up.